Hidden Away
by Thirst.For.Water
Summary: When the Weasley family frees the Golden Trio from Malfoy Manner, Fred and Hermione are left behind. To escape the Death Eaters, they not only must escape the mansion, but change who they are in order to get back to Harry and their family. A new look, new personality, new life - and maybe...new love? The best way to hide is in plain sight. CANNON COMPLIANT UNTIL MALFOY MANNER. FxH.


Chapter One

The pain surged through my veins like a poison, as my own inhuman screams filled the air tangling with her demonic laughter. She grinned at my hoarse sobs. Faintly, I could hear thunder crashing in the distance, the sound accompanied with a show of brilliant flashes of lightning. However, my vision was blurred and my senses muted to anything but the horrific pain that filled me.

"Mudblood bitch," she laughed, her crazed eyes full off a demented sort of joy, as she carved the very same acid word into my flesh.

I fell into darkness.

I throbbed with constant hurt, the dull ache of my body awakening me to my surroundings. My eyes opened to the dirty, dark floor of the dungeon. I couldn't make out a five blurred feet ahead of me - though the view of the chained walls and gothic, bloodied arches weren't an uplifting sight to see anyways.

The light peaked through the barred window, and I could just see the lightness of my dirty hands before me with clarity. Dried blood made my usually pale skin seem darker, and deep cuts and scars covered my arms. I reached up, feeling around my face as the chains rattled with my every movement. I felt around: my skin felt rough with cuts and bruises, my nose - definitely broken, a bloodied lip, and reaching up to feel my forehead, my fingertips lightly travelled over a fresh head wound. I looked at the blood on my fingers from my face, grimly wondering how much more would spill tonight.

I shook the thought from my mind. I didn't really want to know the answer to that. There were more pressing matters.

Taking another look around the dungeon, I searched for an escape route, and surveyed the area for other people. Someone... anyone. Where was Harry? Ron? My memory was foggy. I couldn't remember anything before Bellatrix. Not clearly enough, at least. We were in a prison, like this, but was it the same one? I didn't know. And then there was screams - my own, and the screams of men, was that Ron's or Harry's voice? Everything seemed so long ago. Yet, I knew logically, it had just been hours ago.

Where were they? Panic started to bubble up in the pit of my stomach as the shock of being alive started to wear off. I felt as if the cold walls were closing in on me, and the thought of their cold and lifeless bodies began to circulate in my head.

I took a deep breath. I would be no use to Harry and Ron if I were passed out on the floor. I needed to be practical, just think.

I was good at that.

But first, I needed to get out of these chains. I studied the iron clasps that held my wrists. My blood covered limbs would be too weak to break the thick chains, and it was too painful to even consider it. The cuffs hooked into the ground, having no seam between the cold stone floor and the iron chains.

A crack. Between the links, the smallest amount of hope began to surge. If I could get out this... I smiled. Well, let's not get too optimistic.

Sweat poured over my dirty skin, soaking my clothing. with the effort of pulling at the chains. The iron shook and smashed against the stone with amazing noise. The sound wasn't loud enough to hear over the storm raging outside but the metallic blasts were sure to attract attention if I wasn't careful enough. My wrists were rubbed raw and the newly scanned wounds reopened, pouring over the metal as I smashed my constraints against the ground. I hissed through the pain, trying not to make any noise.

"My pretty Mudblood pet, I've got a blood traitor to keep you company!" A deranged, singing voice called out in the dark. Terror swept through me, and I dropped the chains with a clank. Bellatrix giggled, the muffled sound echoing through the dungeon. Her footsteps got louder and more clear as she came closer to the door of the makeshift prison.

Suddenly a white light blinded me, and I shielded my eyes away from the burning brightness. My eyes teared as I fought to see the figure at the door.

I looked up at my torturer, standing in the doorway. Her hair flew out in every direction, her black dress torn and frayed, and through dirty and dried blood covered the surface of her skin - her eyes, brilliant with the lust of death and brimming with the perverse joy of pain, were what pulled me in.

I drew my body into me, trembling with the memory of her painful attacks.

She smirked, seeing my shivering figure. "Can't fucking handle it, you pathetic filthy Mudblood?" Bellatrix laughed, the cold sounds shaking the little courage I had left. "I brought your spineless friend to you. Maybe the two of you can bond over your last hours of life together." A horrific grin stretched across her face, only barely visible through the light of the door. "I look forward to killing you."

She pushed a moaning mass of wounded limbs through the doorway, laughing cruelly as they hit the ground with a thud, groaning in pain.

Then, the door slammed shut and it was all black.

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness once again, I crawled my way over to the body laying in a heap next to me. My chains rattle with every move, and my hands hurt from my attempt at freeing myself from them.

I felt around on the freezing stone, rejoicing when I felt the warmth of a human being instead of the hard floor.

Then her words caught up with me. Blood traitor.

"Ron? Ron?" I yelled hoarsely, shaking the body frantically. "Wake up! Wake up!" My eyes filled with tears as I awaited with baited breath. He wasn't dead. No.

He couldn't be.

Seconds passed by. Minutes.

I felt scared, and my arms fell, no longer able to support me. I fell on Ron, sobs racking my body. Moments passed, my tears soaking his shirt through as I grieved.

Then, a hand covered mine on his chest.

"Hermione?" A hoarse, barely conscious voice called out from under me.

I gasped. "Fred?"

I rolled off of him, my face flushing. "Sorry," I whispered, "I just assumed..."

"It's alright," he replied, struggling to speak. He groaned in pain as I started scouting for injuries. I felt through his shirt, feeling the broken skin and deep cuts. He hissed with pain. "What are you doing?" He struggled to sit up, but I pushed him down.

"Stay down, you have a couple cracked ribs, scars all over your stomach and your right leg seems to be broken." I felt my way up to his face - no major gashes. Thankfully. "Luckily, you don't seem to be chained down - they must of thought you were too injured to even bother with it...which they were right." My fingers touched a gushing gash on his cheek, the red running down into his mouth. "Nothing a few potions and spells could fix." I smoothed out his hair from a head wound, wishing that I had my wand with me.

I shook my head. No use wishing for something that wasn't happening.

Fred coughed, turning to the side as blood poured out of his mouth. He moaned, clutching his side. His usually pale face seemed white in the moonlight and his freckles seemed to jump out at me.

"So what's the conclusion, doctor Granger?" His voice was broken, sounding like he hadn't uttered a word in days.

A slight smile spread across my face. "You'll live." Hopefully, at least. More likely, something - someone - else would be the cause of both of our deaths. I shuttered.

He seemed to be able to read my thoughts. "Hey, we'll be out of here in no time Granger - don't worry!"

I scoffed in my head, but said nothing. I appreciated the gesture, but the facts led me to different conclusions. Maybe we'd get out of here, and maybe we'd do that alive, but nothing was going to be quick nor easy.

We sat in silence for a moment, not really knowing what to say to each other. It wasn't like we were great friends - amiable at the most. We'd talked to each other with other people present but never alone before. Awkward.

Fred attempted another half hearted conversation, excluding the dark theme of our eminent deaths and gaping wounds. "So...how'd you know I was Fred, not George? Identical to the last freckle, you know."

I touched his right ear - the one that George had lost previously. And that had ended that conversation.

Wait. Fred. George. Bloody hell? How had I not seen this before?

"Why are you here? It was just Harry, Ron, and I. What happened? What did I miss, while I was..." I trailed off. How did that question never cross my mind? Smartest witch of my age my arse!

"While you were...what?"

"Nothing. Answer the damn question."

He chuckled slightly, then hissed with pain from the effort. "Feisty. My memory's a bit fuzzy, but I'll tell you what I can remember. As you know after the three of you ditched our ginger arses and fed for the hills. Which, I'll ask about later. The family tried to continue on our daily lives - though more cautious than usual. It was if we tried extra hard to carry on, just to spite the Death Eaters. When things got rougher though, mum rounded the whole bunch up, and we hid in the safe house. The days started passing, then weeks, and yet still no word from you three. Ginny and mum were growing sick with worry." I felt guilt bubbling up in my stomach. But he went on, "Then one day, out of the blue, some elf...Dooby, Dody..."

"Dobby?"

"Oi, that's the one! Scared Fleur half to death - popping out of no where, telling us that you guys were trapped in the Malfoy mansion, about to be given to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Sufficed to say, we rounded up the whole gang of Weasleys and made our way here.

"This is where it gets a tad blurred. I don't have any memory of how we made it inside, but I know that they were expecting us when we arrived.

"Suddenly flashes of reds, greens, blues were lighting up the skies. Mum and dad told us to run and get Ron, Harry and you. So we split up, the adults fought them off while George, me, and Ginny looked for you guys. We found Harry and Ron in no time flat - it was easy with them yelling for you. We stunned the guards and fought with a few Death Eaters...but we made it out. Then more started coming. We couldn't allow Harry to get killed. It wasn't an option.

"So I stayed?" He clutched his head, screwing up his eyes in thought. "Or was I captured? I... I don't know. I don't remember. All I can remember is Georgie screaming...for me? I don't... I can't..." He broke off, his voice thick with pain. We were silent for a moment, and then he began where he left off. "After that I can only remember flashes: a Death Eater, maybe two? Punches and spells and blood... I'll spare you the details; it seems like you already know the gist." He took a deep breath, his face more hollow and pale then before. "I don't know where they are. If they got out. If they're still..."

He didn't say it, but we were both thinking it: alive.

I forced my emotions out, I needed to be objective. Logical. I couldn't afford passion and tears right now. "I know. But we can't focus on that right now. We need to focus on getting out of here. One step at a time."

He nodded. I could barely see his outline in the dark - the moon was high in the sky and the storm had stopped. Only the thinnest of moonlight passed through the barred windows. It must have been hours since I was thrown in here.

"I need to get these chains off, first. Then I can try to attend to our wounds better. I know some first aid...or at least theoretically - I read it in a book called... well, that's not the point. Hopefully I'll be able to apply it, I think so, at least." I wished that I had my wand with me, as well as my bag. I was prepared for this... no use wishing. I'll have to be prepared in another way.

Hands touched my wrists, and I jerked away in surprise. "Relax, Granger." Fred's figures lightly surveyed the iron clasps. His hand ran over the torn skin next to the tight iron, I gasped in pain. "Ouch," he muttered. His hands ran up the chains, looking for dents.

"There's a broken link on the left chain - I was working on it before you came." I informed him. He automatically switched the chains, seeking the weak link.

"Got it," he said, running his hand over the blood stained iron. I could see his freckled hands feeling for anymore cracks, testing the strength.

"Any ideas? I was hitting it against the stone ground, but obviously that's not the best of plans. A few more blows and I could have broken my wrist. Which wasn't a problem before..."

"But now you have to heal us," he finished for me.

I shook my head. "I can't do anything for my wounds. No broken bones, only a few deep cuts." There's no cure for crucio. I shuddered.

He reached out into the dark for me, tentatively touching my shoulder. I recoiled from his hand. "Don't worry about it. It's fine." I inhaled deeply, pulling my mind away from Bellatrix.

"Okay," he said, moving on. "Break your chains and get me healed as much as you can. Anything else?"

I nodded. "Yeah, do it before daylight - I assume that's when they'll come back. Bright and early. They've already got us - it's not like they need to attack in the middle of the night to scare us. We're they're prisoners: we work around their schedule now."

okay then, hey so this story's going to be mainly Fred-Hermione centric. I don't have a very concrete plan for this story, but I have a basic plot. so i'm basically going along with you guys :)

this is completely cannon up to their 'stay' in malfoy manner. I'll pull most things from the books - but like hermione's scar - some will be more movie compatible. however, I haven't read the final books in a while, so if my memory slipped, be sure to correct anything :) a beta would be awesome!

for now however, tho it's a 'romance' the story will be more action-y and adventure-y for a while. the romance will come ;)

right now hermione and Fred are in that awkward 'almost friends, more than acquaintances stage.' they know only the stereotyped personality of each other, but don't know further than that. also, I don't think they'd be attracted to each other yet. they both regard each other as a more distant sibling figure. they can't really see each other in a 'sexy' way yet ;)

also, I know that Fred isn't super hilarious in this chapter and hermione isn't super passionate, so it seems OOC, but hear me out.

both Fred and hermione can be thought of very flat characters with only one side - funny or smart. but I think both of them are much more 3D than that.

though hermione can be very passionate and over the top emotional (ie SPEW) she can also be a bit cold and calculating - a bit of a badass really (ie the woods and Bellatrix). feel free to disagree, but that's what I feel.

also Fred, I think can be much more than purely comic relief. he seems to only joke around with people that he feels comfortable with, which is why he doesn't really say anything to hermione. also he's in a great deal of a lot of pain...but yeah. he's very clever and so dedicated to whatever he's passionate about. though he will aim to make the mood lighter, I think ultimately he would be able to buckle down and be serious (ie george's hole in his ear).

anyways that's my thoughts.

please enjoy and review :)

PS. did I get the side of george's missing ear right? also, does the characterization sound accurate enough? in both my head and in writing? your thoughts ? :)


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